The problem is you're ignoring the propaganda they did fall for. In the US we have the "America is the best and most free country in the world" propaganda that tons of us fall for. Also the "police are great and are only out for your good" propaganda. Then, especially the older generation are completely surprised every time a hidden cam video of the cops doing some bad crap and say "well, that's just cops now, it wasn't like that back then".
We all have biases and propaganda we fall for. The issue with the internet versus past media is we now have unlimited sources of propaganda 24/7, rather than it just being select articles in the paper or on the news. Even if you only fall for something 1% of the time, if you see 1000 of it a day, you still fall for crap all the time.
I'm interested in the response from the commenter you replied to. I suspect their premise is missing the point you rightly highlight. To most people Propaganda is only things they don't believe. But if they believe something, its reality. Culture and ideology can be difficult to explain to someone who's enveloped in it.
I will list a few things that an American (like me) may not realize is part propaganda/cultural influence.
- Governments can regulate Food to be healthy and not overly processed with refined sugars.
- You can experience freedom without owning a car.
- The Metric system can easily be adopted.
- Supporting paid-sick leave / vacation is not communist. ( I've genuinely heard this a lot)
>To most people Propaganda is only things they don't believe. But if they believe something, its reality.
Interesting.
For me propaganda is simply any broadcast that has a hidden agenda. Propaganda can lie, it can tell the truth, or it can be more nuanced, but if its made with an idea of furthering a certain cause it is propaganda and one should treat it all with a grain of salt regardless if it is propaganda aligned with my worldview. There is hostile and friendly propaganda too.
Perhaps this "definition" is unique to my generation or area. I remember seeing on Polish TV a brief exchange with some Ukrainian official when a (Polish) reporter made some comment about how effective "your propaganda" is. One could tell there was some offense taken about these words. The reporter was definitely using my definition of propaganda, but was misunderstood.
I believe this definition of propaganda is not unique to my country either. A number of countries in the past had "ministries of propaganda". Surely of they considered all propaganda false they would not use that name?
Another commenter said that the difference between truth and propaganda is what you believe the truth is.
- Would I like food to generally be healthier and contain less processed sugars? Yes. Do I think that the government should regulate food to be that way? Not necessarily. I won't claim something ridiculous like "regulating food is a violation of the nth amendment!", but I'm generally skeptical of government regulation without a clear and compelling case for why it's necessary. While the obesity epidemic is a serious issue, I'm not convinced that regulating food is the way to solve it. I guess my skepticism towards regulation comes at least partially from cultural influence, but that doesn't mean that it's wrong.
- You can absolutely experience freedom without a car, but the ability a car gives you to just drive anywhere (where there's a road) is unmatched.
- Customary/metric interop is the real issue, but the thing is most Americans don't interact with the metric system at all. Thus, for most people switching to metric is a lot of work (you gotta replace rulers and tape measures and learn to think in km and km/hr) for zero gain. We really should have just gone all in metric in the 1800s, at this point we're stuck with customary units :(
- I've never heard someone describe paid sick leave as communist, but it doesn't surprise me that people do. Totally agree on this one
We all have biases and propaganda we fall for. The issue with the internet versus past media is we now have unlimited sources of propaganda 24/7, rather than it just being select articles in the paper or on the news. Even if you only fall for something 1% of the time, if you see 1000 of it a day, you still fall for crap all the time.